Awakening [GxG]

39

Narvari scrunched her nose as the stench of antibiotics and blood assaulted her senses. She had barely entered the massive New life hospital, and yet, she was ready to get out. How she hated hospitals. But duty called.

To keep a low profile, Narvari had opted for a simple white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. A cry of terror from behind her garnered Narvari's attention. She quickly leaned her back against the wall as a bed accompanied by four doctors wheeled by her. A man bled so profusely it soaked the sheets and made them crimson. He wouldn't stop shouting. Narvari grimaced at the sight of the screwdriver sticking out of the man's left eye.

"Jesus." She rubbed her left eye. She had to hurry and get the hell out before she lost her mind.

Narvari got into an elevator. Seconds later, she was on the eleventh floor. Her team had divided the twelve floors of the hospital among themselves to cover more ground. She was in charge of the eleventh and twelfth floor while the others took the lower floors.

She peeked at her xuul. It was supposed to give a warning if it sensed any demons within a two hundred meter radius. But so far, the xuul was still inactive. That didn't mean she could lose her guard. Xuul sensed demon energy, not the demons themselves. Greater and royal demons could easily conceal their demon energy so even if there were greater demons around, her xuul would not sense it unless the demon released its demon energy. She needed to be prepared for anything.

She wasn't really sure what they were searching for, but Azmel said they had to look out for something out of the ordinary. What could be out of the ordinary here? Certainly not a man with a screw driver in his eye.

She sneaked past the wide hallways of the hospital. This floor wasn't as crowded as the lower floors. In fact, there were only a couple of people and patients around. It was also a lot more quiet here unlike the literal chaos on the ground floor.

Narvari halted when two men in black suits and dark sunglasses came into view. From the way they stood in front of one of the doors, they must be bodyguards. This must be a VIP ward or something, thought Narvari. She casually walked past the bodyguards.

A nurse quickly filed past her, too much in a hurry to give Narvari a second glance. Other than that, nothing else was happening on this floor. She sighed as boredom took over. Perhaps, her team would find something on the lower floors. She found an empty waiting lounge. A silent TV played in the background.

Suddenly her fingers went numb as goosebumps flooded her arms. Her eyes widened, sensing a slight change in the atmosphere. It was subtle, but it was there. She could feel it worming its way on her skin like insects.

Demon energy. Her eyes darkened. There was something odd about this demon energy. Too weak, too diluted. No wonder the xuul could not detect it. She had to act now. This was their biggest lead so far, even if it was a small one.

She took a deep breath. Once she sensed the direction of the demon energy, she bolted towards that direction. Along the hallways she went, then up the stairs to the twelfth floor. The closer she got, the stronger the energy felt, although still too weak to be sensed by the xuul. Not even a first-order demon had such weak demon energy. How could she even sense it in the first place?

She came to a halt when she heard hushed voices coming from the left hallway. The demon energy seemed to be diffusing from that hallway.

Narvari leaned against the wall, peeking through the hallway. A group of people waited in front of the elevator. A man and a woman, who Narvari assumed were doctors because of their pristine white lab coats, stood behind a sickly man in a wheelchair. A third person, a bearded bald man dressed in an immaculate green blazer, was speaking to the doctors. There was something vaguely familiar about the man. But she couldn't worry about that. Right now, what had gathered her curiosity was the demon energy, and it was coming from the man in the wheelchair.